


Not Alone

by Awesome_Sauce432



Series: Beau Week [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Banter, Beau Week 2019, Fjord is WEAK But He's Doing His Best, Friendship, Fun Friendship Talks About Friendship And Things, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm So Original You Guys, Panic Attacks, Self-Worth Issues, These Two Could Both Be Dying And They'll Still Snark At Each Other, They Split The Party Because Reasons, They're Stuck In A Mineshaft And Beau's Injured And Half Buried That's The Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 16:32:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18595153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awesome_Sauce432/pseuds/Awesome_Sauce432
Summary: Beau was alive and not currently under attack, and that was about the only good thing about this situation. Because she was injured, it was dark, and she was in a mineshaft with who knows how many tonnes of boulders on top of most of her, and the only one around to help is Fjord. Thankfully, Fjord isn't about to leave her alone.





	Not Alone

Beau hissed in pain, wincing at the pressure of what felt like a hundred tonnes of rock pressing down on her side and leg. When she’d realised she was about to get caught in a rockslide — triggered by a trap or some hidden earthquake or just a stroke of _extremely_ bad luck — she’d thrown herself to the side to try and avoid the brunt of it.

 

She was still alive, so she’d succeeded at that at least. But she hadn’t managed to dodge all of it, a few massive pieces of debris pinning her left leg to the ground and cutting into her torso with unfortunately jagged edges. She was nearly certain she’d blacked out for least a few seconds, opening her eyes to the dust still settling, stinging pain rocketing through her body at every moment.

 

Her night vision goggles had been knocked out of their place over her eyes, and when she tried to adjust them there was a spiderweb of cracks along the glass. Easily fixable with a mending cantrip, but Jester wasn’t here. Through the goggles she could still see vaguely in the dark, but everything was fractured and murky.

 

But most importantly, she was alone. The Nein had split up to explore the mineshaft, looking for some random ass mineral that some asshole needed for who the hell knows what. Normally Beau would care, but right now, there were more important things for her to worry about. They’d split up into three groups. Caleb, Yasha and Caduceus, Jester and Nott, and Beau and Fjord.

 

“Fjord!?” Beau’s voice came out croaky, dust drying out her throat and making her cough. She cleared her throat, before calling out again. “Fjord!”

 

For a few seconds there was nothing but silence, and in those few seconds, a million possibilities ran through Beau’s head. Fjord was unconscious. Fjord was fighting something. Fjord had been kidnapped. Fjord was dead. Fjord had abandoned her. Fjord had left her behind.

 

Each possibility filled her with more dread, but none of them came to pass, as those few terrible moments of silence ended with a hacking coughing sound, followed by a colourful series of curses that could’ve only been picked up as a sailor on the ocean.

 

“-fuck. Beau? Beau, was that you?” Fjord sounded more pissed than anything, his voice coming from somewhere nearby, but she couldn’t see him through her ruined goggles.

 

“Yeah-” She grimaced, every tiny movement feeling like it could be the one that would cause the rubble to shift, to finish her off for good. “Dude, where are you?”

 

“Hold on-” There was the sound of rocks scraping on the ground, and Fjord grunting, followed by dull thuds that sent vibrations echoing through the ground. “Are you hurt?”

 

Beau looked dimly down at the half of her body that was stuck beneath rubble. She couldn’t _see_ any blood, but she could feel it, the warmth seeping along her skin and into her clothes beneath the rock. “Yup. So much for dodging.”

 

There was a light chuckle, and Beau heard heavy footsteps echoing in the cavern, and then a sharp intake of breath.

 

“Holy shit, Beau.” All of a sudden she could see Fjord in the darkness, his face looking like it was split in half by the cracks in her goggles, a mismatched look of concern that he wasn’t even trying to hide.

 

Beau laughed mirthlessly, because what the fuck else was she supposed to do? “That bad, huh?”

 

Fjord crouched down next to her, placing his hands on the boulder that was digging into her side. Beau could see him looked up and around at the other rocks, judging to see which ones he could remove or try to remove without making the rest come tumbling down.

 

Beau just laid there on her side, breathing heavily and trying not to intake too much dust. The coppery scent of blood mixed with the musty, stale air of the mineshaft. She could see one of Fjord’s legs looked torn open, his pants ripped and blood slowly seeping out of it.

 

“You got off easy.” She murmured. “Lucky bastard.”

 

“Hey, I Misty Stepped my way out of there in a panic and _still_ got caught by a couple rocks. I’m amazed you’re not completely buried.” Fjord had a half-smile on his face, and he stood up, running his hands along the rocks on top of the ones burying Beau. “Some of these are pretty loose, but I don’t know if I can lift the big one by myself. Yasha or Jester maybe…”

 

Beau’s heart clenched at the thought of being left alone in a stupid tunnel, in the dark, with broken glasses and buried by rocks. Besides, at this point in time they didn’t even know where the others _were_. They were supposed to meet up back at the entrance in an hour, so unless Jester sent them a message for no particular reason, they were on their own.

 

She hugged one arm over her chest, the other tucked underneath her head to try and give it something to rest on. “Can’t you try? If you lift it up a bit, I can wriggle out.”

 

Fjord hummed to himself, his hands on his hips. “I don’t know. If I hadn’t used my Misty Step we wouldn’t have a problem but-” She could feel him scowling, running his hands through his hair. “I shoulda grabbed you.”

 

“Yeah, waste a second trying to find me and soon enough you’re pinned right along with me.” Beau drawled, her head feeling light. “Just-just get these rocks off of me.”

 

Fjord didn’t respond to that, just stepped a little closer, tossing a few smaller, loose rocks over his shoulder. After getting rid of all the smaller ones he paused, carefully appraising the scenario before slowly trying to move one of the bigger ones. Beau laid there silently, her body stiff and tense, just _waiting_ for one wrong move, one tiny shift that would disrupt everything and send more rocks tumbling down on top of them both.

 

As time went on, she could feel herself getting more and more light-headed. The walls felt like they were slowly creeping ever closer towards her, her vision through her goggles so fractured and blurry it was giving her a headache, and she just pulled them off, laying them down in front of her.

 

It felt like the rocks were digging even further into her side, scratching against her ribs and hip, cracking down on her leg. She was certain her left one was broken, and she wouldn’t be surprised if her right was as well.

 

Her fingers were twitching, as if her body was rebelling against being pinned down for so long. Beau _never_ liked sitting still, much less lying still, and with every passing minute (had it even been minutes? How long had it been?) she grew more restless, and with restlessness came unease, and with unease was the beginnings of panic.

 

“Fjord-” Her voice was small, and she had to cough after speaking, dust feeling like it was lining every square inch of her mouth. “Fjord, are you nearly there?”

 

“Not quite.” Fjord huffed, and she heard him sit down in front of her, leaning against some of the boulders. She could only vaguely make him out in the darkness, but she could hear him breathing, feel his presence close by. She wasn’t alone. She wasn’t alone.

 

“You alright, Beau?”

 

“I’m fine.” Beau snapped, instantly regretting it. She inhaled sharply, feeling like it made the entire cavern spin around her, and coughed, covering her hand with her mouth. Stubbornly pretending like it hadn’t happened, she cleared her throat and continued speaking, trying to inject the confidence that was usually so easy to stuff into her voice. “I just wanna know what’s taking you so long.”

 

“I’m going as fast as I can.” Fjord’s voice was low. “I’ll get you out of there, don’t worry.”

 

Beau closed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pounding in her head and the dull throbbing of pain from her chest down. Coughs forced their way into her throat, and when they passed she could taste blood on her lips. Only a bit, but any at all was a bad sign.

 

Her breath began to pick up, a droning sound beginning to ring in her ears, when she suddenly felt two hands enclose around one of hers. Her first instinct was to pull away as harshly as she could, but the grip was tight.

 

“Hey, Beau-” Fjord’s voice was insistent and laced with surprise. “Beau, talk to me-”

 

Fjord was there. Fjord was there. She _knew_ he was there but a part of her felt like he wasn’t. It was just her and she was all alone and buried under rocks and manacles on her wrists and a coldhearted guard telling her that she’d stay in that cell (dark and cold and no window and no space to move at all) until they felt she’d learned her lesson-

 

“Beau!” Fjord’s voice cut through her quickly spiralling thoughts, one of his hands still holding hers tight and the other pressed on her shaking shoulder. “Just breathe. Come on, breathe-fuck I don’t know how long you’re supposed to breathe for-”

 

He sounded more than a little panicked himself, unsure of exactly what to say as he tried to get her to breathe at a normal speed. But he kept talking, and that alone gave her something to hold on to, something to anchor herself too.

 

“Hey, hey there you go.” Fjord breathed a sigh of relief, his grip loosening just a bit. “Better?”

 

“I-I’m sorry.” Beau breathed out.

 

“Don’t be sorry. I’ve been there.” Fjord sounded genuine, truly genuine and not the fake-genuine he’d put on for people they were trying to befriend, con or intimidate. Or all three. “Didn’t have you pegged as the type to be claustrophobic, though.”

 

“I’m not.” Beau said quickly, a part of her wanting to wriggle her hand out of Fjord’s but the rest of her refusing, wanting to hold on to the contact for as long as she could.“I can deal with small spaces.”

 

“Alright then.”

 

“I can’t move, that’s what getting me.” Beau realised too late that Fjord hadn’t actually asked for an elaboration, but now that she’d started, she couldn’t stop. “I can’t move, and I’m hurt, and useless, and it’s dark, and there’s no one here.”

 

“I’m here.” Fjord squeezed her hand and Beau bit the inside of her cheek, breathing in deeply.

 

“Yeah. You’re here.”

 

There was a short silence, which was broken by Fjord removing his hand from Beau’s shoulder. He shuffled back a little, still holding her hand but moving his other somewhere in front of him. Beau felt a tingle of energy run up her spine before there was a bright flash of light, so unexpectedly bright in the darkness it forced her to close her eyes.

 

When she opened again she could see Fjord’s falchion, smelling of salt water and fresh sea breeze, lightly illuminating the cavern. She could see Fjord’s face properly now, a slightly satisfied smile on his face, very light sheen of sweat on his brow.

 

“There. You’ve got some light now.” He said. “That help?”

 

It did, actually. Beau felt a knot of panic slowly unravel inside her. There were still many other knots of panic, but one less than there had been. She nodded, and Fjord’s smile widened a little.

 

“Good. Now, I’ve got to get back to getting you out of here.” He squeezed her hand one more time before gently letting go of it, standing up and surveying the rocks again.

 

But now Beau could follow what he was doing, the dim light of the falchion more than enough to let her see the immediate area, as Fjord wedged the blade underneath one of the rocks, using it as leverage to tip it over into a position where Fjord could properly pick it up.

 

“So, want to talk about anything?” Fjord asked, as he began to repeat the process with another rock. He wasn’t even close to touching the ones directly on top of Beau, instead trying to removes the ones on top of the ones on top of those ones.

 

Beau blinked. “What? Why?”

 

Fjord shrugged, squinting before jamming his falchion in-between another two boulders. “Pass the time. What do you think the others are doing?”

 

Beau considered just ignoring the question. In the wake of her panic everything seemed a little more blurry around the edges, a little less sharp. Or perhaps it was the blood loss. Either way, she felt like a nap. But Fjord had said the question, and now it was mulling around in her head, demanding to be answered.

 

“Jester’s probably made another shrine to the Traveler. Or she and Nott have blown something up.” Beau muttered, before an idea occurred to her and she gasped. “Maybe _they’re_ the ones who caused the rockslide!”

 

“If they are, I’m gonna guilt them like there’s no tomorrow.” Fjord grinned almost gleefully, before he hesitated for a moment. “Not Jester, actually. Nott, though. I’ll never let Nott forget it.”

 

Beau snickered. “Caleb and Yasha and Cad are probably doing nothing exciting. I bet they found the… the thingy we were getting already. Maybe they’re waiting back at the entrance.”

 

“Or maybe they found a portal to another plane again. Or they’d come across a bunch of mineshaft people and are having tea with them.” Fjord said.

 

“I don’t think I’d even be surprised if they were.”

 

“Neither would I. Our lives are a goddamn mystery.” Fjord chuckled, hefting another boulder and dropping it on the ground.

 

Beau could feel the weight on her getting ever so slightly lighter, or at least it felt that way. The ground beneath her didn’t feel quite so hard anymore, Fjord’s voice fuzzy, taking a few seconds for her to understand them.

 

She could see Fjord glance down at her, a frown flitting across his face for a few moments. “Hey, Beau, keep talking to me. You’ve always got something to say about something.”

 

“Hey, fuck you. You just want to keep me awake.”

 

“Yeah, awake and not passing out from blood loss. Work with me here.” Fjord deadpanned. “Tell me what made you mad last if you like.”

 

Beau hummed. “I-I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve been mad at anything today.”

 

“Interesting.” Fjord was nodding along, trying to pull off boulders perhaps a little more quickly than before. Beau let her free hand drift to the edge of the boulder pinning her, coming away with smeared blood on her fingers. “So what have you been feeling today?”

 

“I don’t know. I feel lots of things. I’m _not_ mad all the time, you know. That makes me mad actually, that you think that. Fuck you.” She raised her voice a little, frowning when she heard Fjord snicker.

 

“I don’t think that, trust me. But it’s easier to talk when you’ve got something to vent about. I’m sorry if you thought I think that.”

 

“Right, good.” Beau coughed, instinctively trying to curl in on herself but only managing to send a fresh wave of pain through her, stars and shapes swirling in her already murky vision. “Ow-ow, that hurts.”

 

“I’m working on it, Beau. Keep talking.” Fjord’s voice was a little quick.

 

“Okay. I’m glad you’re here, Fjord. Do you think we would’ve been friends? If we met when we were little kids?” Beau tilted her head up towards Fjord, who glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow.

 

“I’m pretty sure I was nearly a teenager by the time you were a toddler.”

 

“Yeah, but like, if you weren’t. If we were both kids around the same time, and lived in the same town, do you think we would’ve been friends?” Beau’s voice sounded oddly distant to herself, almost detached from her body.

 

“I don’t know.” Fjord sighed lightly. “It would’ve been nice if we were.”

 

“I didn’t have any friends when I was a kid.” Beau let her head drop to it’s side, staring out into the darkness of the mineshaft. “I thought a couple of them were my friends, but then they ratted me out to the guards and got me thrown in jail so I don’t think they were.”

 

“I know what that feels like.” Fjord muttered, and Beau continued, trying to keep her eyes open so she could keep talking.

 

“I was in jail and they thought I was just a punk kid so they put me in with a couple big dudes to try and scare me. I pretended I wasn’t but I was, really. A little. But I was stupid so I tried to pick a fight to show I was tough, but they actually took me up on it. So then the guards had to take me out of that cell before I got killed.” She was rambling, the words falling out of her like water down a waterfall. “They put me in this other cell, way in the back of the jail.”

 

“Alone?”

 

“Yeah. I was alone, and there was no window, and the walls were all rough and scratchy, and it was so small I barely fit. It might’ve been a supply closet or something, actually. Or designed for halflings, not humans. There’s a lot of halflings in Kamordah, did you know that?”

 

“Huh, that’s interesting.” Fjord grunted, pulling off another boulder.

 

“They kept me in there for the whole night. And it was so small I couldn’t move at all, and I was just stuck there, in the dark, and it felt like forever.” Beau paused. “I thought I forgot about that night.”

 

“That sucks. How old were you?”

 

“I don’t remember…” Beau coughed weakly. “Fjord, why are you so slow?”

 

Fjord didn’t answer, just jammed his falchion in between two more boulders and heaving. “Well, _actually_ , I think I’m really close, so why don’t you stop being critical of the guy saving your ass.”

 

Beau chuckled, her eyes slipping halfway shut. “You’re so slow I’m going to fall asleep.”

 

“Hey!” Fjord’s sudden shout cut through the haze for a moment. “Don’t fall asleep, alright? Feel free to criticise me all you want, but don’t fall asleep.”

 

A part of her was half-inclined to take him up on that, to go on about all the tiny little things that didn’t mean anything in the long run. But instead, she just sighed, distantly looking down at her shaking hand. “Nah, you’re cool. You’re really cool, you know? I don’t think I tell you that enough.”

 

“You could stand to tell me it more.”

 

“I’m bad at compliments. I’m really bad at them but you’re cool and you tried to help me do compliments and apologies and all that.”

 

“You’re not so bad yourself, Beau. You sell yourself short, you know that?” Fjord stepped over her quickly to push away some rocks behind her, and Beau tried to follow him with her head, managing to hold it up for only a few moments before it fell back down to where it had been.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. You’re abrasive and a bit of an asshole, but I don’t think you’re as bad as you think you are. Not anymore, anyways.”

 

Huh. It wasn’t a glowing recommendation or run-through of all the good things she’d done in her entire life, but somehow just a simple “you’re not _as_ bad as you think you are” stirred something inside. She was getting better. She was improving. She was learning. That was nice to know.

 

“I’m good at like… being a first mate and stuff?” She tried looking over at Fjord again, but could only see the light of the falchion reflecting off the boulders, hearing him grunt again as he pushed something away.

 

He huffed, exhaling slowly before answering. “You’re an excellent first mate. You were while we were out at sea, and you’re still one now. It’s good to know you’re there.”

 

Beau felt herself smile lightly, and felt Fjord push something close by. The shifting of rocks made it press down on her more for just a second, and she winced, groaning in pain.

 

“Sorry, Beau, but I’m gonna try to roll off the big one on you now. It might hurt a lot more before it starts hurting less.” Fjord sounded like he was grimacing himself, and Beau tried to steady her breathing, beating back the fuzziness in her mind to try and stay away.

 

“Yup. Cool. Just do it.” She was ready to get out of there, so she could get away and get healed and maybe have a nap.

 

Fjord counted down from three before, using his falchion as leverage, began to push the massive boulder that was digging into her side away. Beau buried her face in her arm, muffling the cries of pain that she didn’t manage to bite down before they escaped. For a few moments the pain flared up, her entire body shaking.

 

For a second she though she’d passed out entirely, but eventually the moment faded, and all of a sudden she could feel her hips move again, her body shifting to the side. Fjord quickly removed a few more boulders that were pinning her legs and then she was _free_.

 

Fjord pulled her away from the boulders by her arms, breathing heavily and sitting down, holding her up in a half-sitting position.

 

“Hey, you alright?” He asked, rummaging through his pack and producing a small vial. “Drink this.”

 

“You had a healing potion this _whole time?_ ” Beau gaped, though she accepted the vial. After drinking it, she still felt in pain, but at least she wasn’t going to pass out in the next few seconds. “You bastard.”

 

“Wanted to wait until you were out. Figured it wouldn’t do much good healing you if the boulder was still sticking in your wounds.” Fjord was breathing heavily, but Beau couldn’t imagine that she’d have been that much better at lifting a bunch of heavy rocks. “If you’d passed out or something, I probably would’ve given it to you anyway.”

 

“Wow, I feel _so_ much better.” Beau rolled her eyes theatrically, before testing out her legs. Her left one was, as suspected, completely and totally fucked. Her right one was alright though. Or at least it was okay enough that she couldn’t feel any pain from it over the far worse injuries she had.

 

“I take back everything I said before. You’re ungrateful and I’d’ve been better off leaving you to rot.” Fjord deadpanned, holding the expression for only a moment before breaking into a joking grin. “I’m kidding, I swear. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

 

“You better not or I’ll become a ghost and haunt you forever.” Beau sneered, while Fjord rummaged through his bag of holding again until he pulled out some bandages, wrapping them tightly around Beau’s torso and stomach where the sharp rock had left ugly gashes in her side, before using the remainder on her broken leg.

 

“You _wouldn’t_.”

 

“I would, and you’d deserve it.”

 

Fjord snickered and didn’t deny it, finishing up the last of the bandages and summoning his falchion again, holding it up, looking up and down the mineshaft. “It doesn’t look like the way back is blocked. You up to walk?”

 

“Well, I’m not letting you carry me, so yes.” Beau grumbled, and Fjord shrugged his shoulders, gently holding a hand on Beau’s shoulder to help prevent her from falling down onto her back while he stood up, before then helping Beau to her feet.

 

“There’s no shame in being carried when injured, you know.” Fjord said dryly.

 

“Yes there is.” Beau shot back as Fjord helped her to her feet. “Also, everything we talked about? Didn’t happen. At all. You breathe a word of it to _anyone_ else and I will-”

 

“Don’t worry, you don’t need to threaten me.” Fjord chuckled, looping an arm under Beau’s armpits and then letting herself arrange herself as she saw fit, being careful to put as little weight on her bad side as possible. “I know how to keep a secret.”

 

“Good.” Beau leaned heavily on Fjord as they began to walk, biting back a wince with every step. “Thanks, Fjord.”

 

“Hey, you’d do the same for me.” Fjord held his falchion out in front of him with his free hand, Beau’s broken night vision goggles hanging off his wrist, the falchion giving off light in front of them, for Beau’s benefit more than his. “When we get back to the others we can say you pushed me out of the way very heroically.”

 

Beau laughed at that. “What, is me pushing you out of the way less shameful than you Misty Stepping without taking me with you?”

 

“Maybe.” Fjord shot a smug grin at her. “Are you going to tell them the truth?”

 

Beau scoffed. “Nah. It’ll make me feel a bit better too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just love Fjord and Beau's friendship so much you guys???? 
> 
> Anyway I know 'injured in a mineshaft' isn't exactly the most original plot idea out there but I've never seen it done with Beau and Fjord beforreeeeee soooooooooo 
> 
> Anyway I didn't do Day 2 or 3 of Beau Week because on Day 2 I had Things going on and Day 3 I went and watched Avengers Endgame so that took up like, the whole day. BUT HERE I AM


End file.
